No more snacking on street for Delhi's poor

Come rain, come shine, Ramesh Kumar Sandeep can be found beneath a blue plastic awning, feeding the hungry people of Delhi. A virtual one-man-show, this roadside dhaba owner darts back and forth between large pots of fragrant lentil stew and a clay oven from which he pulls hot, crispy bread. Every day, he has a decent line of customers. But for how much longer?

In a shock announcement, a court in Delhi has ordered that the city's estimated 20,000 dhabas operating without an official licence – about 80 per cent – have to close in less than a month. "I don't know what will happen," said Mr Sandeep, chopping onions in preparation for his evening customers. "People cannot afford the big restaurants. They come here and spend 10 or 15 rupees (20p), rickshaw drivers, labourers and the street salesmen."

The dhabas of India are a mainstay of the country's culinary scene. Cheap, filling and ubiquitous, their typical menus of chickpea curry, stewed vegetables and hot-baked bread provide daily sustenance to millions of ordinary people. In northern India in particular, no road trip is considered complete without a refuelling stop at a dhaba.

Hygiene is not a selling point. A grimy rag wiped across the table-tap may be as good a clean as they ever get, and the bathroom facilities are best not discussed. From time to time, the authorities move to stamp down on unlicensed premises, and insist that all dhabas have running water, a clean kitchen and good ventilation.

"There is no reason why these unauthorised dhabas and hawkers should keep encroaching on public land, endangering public health by greasing palms of the concerned officials," said the order issued by the High Court. "If the officials have little care about the health of public and about the encroachment of public land, none of these dhabas and hawkers would come up at the first instance."

The court's wide-ranging ruling was made in response to a petition filed by a dhaba owner, Rajiv Tyagi, who said the city authorities' had previously enforced a "pick-and-choose" policy when enforcing licensing rules. He said his dhaba, and five others in the east of the city, had been shut because they were non-vegetarian. Those selling only vegetarian food, considered more pure in Hindu tradition, had not been bothered, he claimed.

But the authorities said they had been trying to crack down on unlicensed premises for years. "We have been taking action against illegal dhabas for years but they keep coming back," K S Mehra, an official with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, told The Times of India.

Papu, who works in a scruffy roadside eatery in south Delhi, said: "We have 200 people here every day". Asked where those people will eat if his humble joint is closed, he said: "That is what the authorities should be thinking about. Only they can tell you that."